[dundee] Shock! Horror! Probe! Security by Obscurity failure

[Simon Wells]

Thanks Robert,

That is really useful. Last week in one of my tutorials I was trying  
to explain how open systems can encourage security and that knowing  
all of the details of the security of a system actually translated  
into more secure systems because the security doesn't rely merely on  
keeping secrets but on good engineering.

At this point even the other lecturer was skeptical that knowing the  
details of a system could increase security compared with not knowing  
anything about it. Unfortunately, as the subject only came up  
peripherally because the topic of the tutorial was free software I  
didn't have any examples to hand.

This article will be useful in getting my point across (and making  
myself appear like a last word freak!).

Simon

Dr. Simon Wells
=============

E-mail: 	swells at computing.dundee.ac.uk
IM: 		sw3lls at yahoo.co.uk
Mail: 	School of Computing,
		Queen Mother Building,
		University of Dundee,
		Dundee, DD1 4HN.
WWW: 	http://quiddity.computing.dundee.ac.uk/swells/blog/
Phone: 	+44 (0)1382 386 526
Fax:		+44 (0)1382 385 509 (FAO: Simon Wells)




On 13 Mar 2009, at 08:08, Robert Ladyman wrote:

> Not strictly Linux, but it does expose 'closed' thinking.
>
> "Was decision not to publish MasterCard security standard a mistake?  
> | 12 Mar
> 2009 | ComputerWeekly.com"
>
> http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2009/03/12/235253/was-mastercards-
> decision-not-to-publish-security-standard-a.htm
> -- 
>
> Robert Ladyman
> File-Away Limited, 32 Church Street, Newtyle
> Perthshire, PH12 8TZ SCOTLAND
> Registered in Scotland, Company Number SC222086
> Tel: +44 (0) 1828 898 158
> Mobile: +44 (0) 7732 771 649
> http://www.file-away.co.uk
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> dundee GNU/Linux Users Group mailing list
> dundee at lists.lug.org.uk  http://dundee.lug.org.uk
> https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/dundee
> Chat on IRC, #tlug on dundee.lug.org.uk

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: smime.p7s
Type: application/pkcs7-signature
Size: 3938 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://mailman.lug.org.uk/pipermail/dundee/attachments/20090313/221b3300/attachment.bin